Wahida Clark and Editor Depart

by Taylor Nix
August 2009

After months of diligently working together, establishing a permanent brand and producing optimum reading material, national bestselling author and publisher Wahida Clark—creator of the Thug Love series and commander in chief of Wahida Clark Presents—has parted ways with her longstanding editor and assistant Tobias A. Fox.

It was after an employee meeting that Tobias would arrive at the conclusion it was time for him to leave and explore his own ventures. However, according to Clark, Tobias did not leave emptyhanded: he deleted several files and documents from her office computer; he stole manuscripts along with publishing contracts and a Rolodex filled with a considerable amount of contacts.“Tobias left with the office key and didn't return it. He didn't answer or return any of my phone calls, so I sent him a text and still nothing. I had to call him from someone else’s phone to reach him. It was obvious he was trying to avoid me,” Clark explains. “He started calling up my employees stating that ‘he made me.’ He also called up my authors and tried to get them to basically leave my company and follow him. And he even went up to a few prisons to visit and talk it up with authors who were in the mix of signing with me. All this along with emails he sent to my other authors as well.”

In an email provided by Wahida Clark, Tobias writes the following to an author signed to Wahida Clark Presents:

"Hey you! Okay, here's your updated contract. I can do this all day. Seriously, just keep in mind that they know longer have the original contract on file. All you have to do is take the signature page from the contract that you have and add it to the attached updated contract. Don't worry, either way you're going to be okay. We got each other's back."

We contacted Tobias A. Fox for his side of the story and here is what he said:

"This false accusation is not only ridiculous, but seems to be snowballing into a more serious matter. Once this is no longer a court matter I will gladly share my side of the story in its full detail . . . It's very unfortunate that [our] relationship has come to this . . . I should also add that if Wahida Clark doesn’t want to get sued for defamation of character she should let the courts deal with this matter."

Questions, comments and concerns can be sent to: taylor@urbanbooksource.com

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Asami :

Posted 1123 days ago

I think theyâll leave the app and just remove the link. Customers can then buy the book where they want and<a href="http://yjzkgbvu.com"> eenryove</a> is happy. I just canât imagine Amazon sending Apple a lot of money every week for their 30%. Not going to happen. Just removing the link but leaving the app will work just fine and then let the customers find the book where they want and move it where they want. It's a big deal to open a browser, find Amazon, and buy from them compared to an app on the iPad that takes you right into the bookstore with one click. Any Kindle reading app on the iOS will not be allowed to have a link to the Amazon store. A user will have to go to Safari and open it, go to Amazon, and go to the Kindle store. That's cumbersome and Amazon will lose business to Apple. Just think of the iPhone what's easier to use, an app or browsing in a tiny browser? And if more and more people start buying through iBooks, it means writers need to get their books on that platform. That means an ISBN and uploading through a Mac computer, or letting Smashwords push it there. This is not good news. This is someone taking 30% of a book sale. That's' less for others or more for the consumer.

Walter :

Posted 1124 days ago

, Dean, itâs not that easy to get books up on Apple directly. You need two thgins: an ISBN, and the ability to upload from a Mac. The ISBN costs money and plenty of us donât have Macs.Itâs good that Smashwords is batting 1000 for you. As long as Smashwords isnât affected unduly by this then writers should be ok. Mark, there are many places, not just Smashwords, that works as a portal to Apple bookstore. I think at last count I noticed there were two dozen, maybe more. I just like Smashwords because it's one stop shopping to Apple, Kobo, and Sony. Instead of three stops. Makes thgins very easy at the moment.ISBN numbers are needed, sure, and if people are thinking long term, they can be bought in a huge bulk. Smashwords and other sites offer both free ISBNs if you don't mind their name as publisher on the ISBN listing or a small fee of like $9.99 per ISBN if you want your own publishing company name on the listing with Bowker. Changes nothing either way anywhere else. I use the free service for Apple, B&N, and Smashwords for all collections and buy the ISBNs for novels. Also, if you buy them in huge bulk, they are under a $1.00 each, but that's only for publishing companies that plan on being around for a while and doing more then ten books. http://jenhzpmbcc.com [url=http://mcruvkscnn.com]mcruvkscnn[/url] [link=http://uxcdincn.com]uxcdincn[/link]

Jeevan :

Posted 1124 days ago

Sorry about that; I hadn't realized that Apple had made it <a href="http://bcebyjcqo.com">imoilspbs e</a> to download an app from sites other than their app store. Am I wrong in thinking that there is a potential anti-trust lawsuit right there? I mean, if MS tried to make it so that only programs which are sold from the MS site will work on Windows, people would have a fit.I'm really wondering how much Apple dares to push this issue. A poll from a couple of months ago showed that 2/3 of iPads users were reading books on the device, and 75% of those were reading Kindle books. That means about 50% of their iPad users have Kindle software installed and are invested in AMZ format books. I cannot imagine those users will be happy if Apple forces Amazon to pull their app. The negative publicity Apple is already getting about this issue would snowball by June and early summer is when a bunch of those new Android tablets are due to roll out, isn't it?It still doesn't seem like it will impact writers that much, though Amazon simply can't agree to this deal financially, I don't think they will have any choice but to either sue or withdraw their app, maybe replacing it with a reader-only app if Apple lets them. Smashwords (and other companies that upload for you to iBooks), acting as a publisher, is already paying Apple their 30%, so they shouldn't be impacted. I think this whole deal will have more impact on the platform wars themselves than on writers and publishers.

Erica :

Posted 1126 days ago

You're welcome.I'm cuouirs to see how things will shake out. I started buying books from Amazon via my smart phone (a Droid) downloaded the app, ordered through the app, read through the app.At Christmas, I got a Kindle. Now I usually buy the book through the link on the Kindle, & I read it on either the kindle or the droid, whichever is most convenient.If the iPad overtakes the Kindle, & the iBookstore doesn't catch up to Amazon, I think lots of people will download the Kindle app to iPad, open the app, & buy their books through the app. Most readers will take the path of least resistance, & even if they know & understand the royalty split, that's not a reader's concern. It's all about convenience & instant gratification. (At least it usually is for me. Grin.)And I agree with Tobias, I think in those situations, it will shake out into a 30-30-40 split, with apple getting 30%, Amazon keeping 30%, & the publisher taking a 40% split instead of 70%. I think it would be a good thing for writers to start trying to get into the iBookstore, especially if Apple will go with a 30-70 Apple-Publisher split. Bulk up the iBookstore offerings. That would be good for competition, good for readers, good for writers.A big part of the equation is who will keep the biggest market share on devices, I think. Another big part of the equation is going to be whether any other online e-book retailers can compete effectively with Amazon.I'm still kind of new to this aspect of business, & I could be completely wrong. But I really appreciated Tobias' take on this.

Susan :

Posted 1423 days ago

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David :

Posted 1424 days ago

In my experience, the bigesgt problem with this lake, and all others in the county, is a miserable lack of enforcement of current standards and ordinances.An indeal situation would be to employ one FT county compliance officer for each of the big lakes, dedicated to enforcement and public education. Could be paid by a tax assessment for all landowers in the watershed feeding each lake. There are ways to do this under current law, but no political will.Just look at the county commissioners attitude towards Lakde CDA. They fuss over pollution but will not spend a dime towards implementation of the lake management plan. They have no guts to fight off the business and lake owners associations who oppose any new taxes or enforcement.

Wahida is one of the most talented women I know! She operates one of the most successful and organized houses out there. It's a shame we can't trust employees. She will get pass this! Many in Indie publishing deal with this issue, it's becoming common. The thing to do is step up your game with true professionals and not homies.Therone is soooo full of himself. The true professional would not have taking someone else's discussion and post 68 responses about himself! People who speak the truth do not argue with uneducated people. Therone is defending himself because he has to convince himself he has arrived! Selling 200 books does not make one a New York Times bestseller. By the way, Wahida Clark IS a New York Times bestseller. Editors come a dime a dozen, Wahida can re-group as a much wiser woman.